Category: Channel / Retail

American vs Australian convenience stores – what’s to learn?

Topics: Channel / Retail, Convenience

Norrelle Goldring of ShopAbility provides context around the US convenience market, and what can be applied to convenience retailing in Australia, for Convenience World Magazine.

Being the creators of the modern highway system, the US is traditionally considered the home of fuel based convenience stores, as well as anything drive thru, including weddings and banks … but interestingly, no drivethru bottleshops. For many retail channels, store formats and store chains the USA is considered global best practice. However for convenience channel retailing, I think there are as many things they can learn from us, as much as we from them.

Read More >

True community based pharmacy … differentiating your store based on your location

Topics: Channel / Retail, Pharmacy, Segmentation / Clustering

We call them community pharmacies, but many could leverage their location and local shoppers better to create a point of difference, argues Norrelle Goldring of ShopAbility, for Retail Pharmacy Magazine.

Community pharmacies differentiate themselves from discounters because they consider they are catering to their local community.

Which they are, but to what degree? How well are they really applying knowledge of their local community to tailor their range and offer?

By catering to your local community, I’m not just talking about stocking product X for old Mrs Hodgkins who comes in once a month for it. What I mean is understanding the demographics and motivations of the people in a 3km radius (catchment area) of your store.

Read More >

Winter – making retail hay when the sun doesn’t shine

Topics: Channel / Retail, FMCG, Point of Purchase, Shopper

When the weather outside is frightful there’s a number of ways to play to consumer and shopper natural behaviours during winter. By Norrelle Goldring of ShopAbility, for Retail World Magazine.

Following on from our Rise to the Occasion article last year, about occasion based shopper marketing opportunities, let’s take a look at the opportunities winter presents.

HIBERNATION BEHAVIOUR

People are more likely to stay in during the winter – even in subtropical towns like Sydney and Brisbane – because they don’t want to venture out ‘in the cold and rain’. Unless they’re going to the snow. This is why restaurant patronage generally drops during the winter … people ‘go out’ and socialise in the summer and ‘stay in’ during the winter.

Read More >

Stores We’ve Seen: Kmart Broadway

Topics: Channel / Retail, E-Bulletins / Newsletters, FMCG, Mass Merchants, Point of Purchase

For the past year Kmart has been telling us to “expect change” in their stores. Initially the focus was on service, the shopping environment and opening hours but in July 2010 the focus shifted to include price and value for money on everyday household goods. With this in mind we thought it was worth looking at it from a shopper perspective. Would the average shopper notice the change they were being encouraged to ‘expect’? ShopAbility’s Alison Sinclair checks it out.

Walking into the Kmart store at Broadway in Sydney the first thing you observe is a far tidier store than the average mass merchant, the shelves are stacked neatly and the pallet displays are well merchandised with clear signage to help you navigate the store. As part of the repositioning, Kmart Broadway trialled 24hr/7 day trading but has since reduced the opening hours to 8am till midnight each day. Less than 24/7 but more then I would have expected.

Read More >

The 10 (+1) Habits of Highly Effective Shopping Centre Retailers

Topics: Business Strategy, Channel / Retail, E-Bulletins / Newsletters, Point of Purchase, Sustainability

What are the secrets of the successful mall retailers? Peter Huskins and Norrelle Goldring of ShopAbility discuss, for Retail World Magazine.

THE SHOPPER JOURNEY TO THE SHOPPING CENTRE

Whilst the number of Shoppers visiting a Shopping Centre in small groups as a pure leisure outing is increasing, the majority of Shopper trips to the Shopping Centre are still destination based.  That is, the Shopper is going for a specific purpose or item, or set of purposes and items.

However, they’re also open to influence – nearly 90% of Shoppers deviate (add to) their shopping list, regardless of whether the list is on paper on in their heads.  So as a Centre based retailer you have a good opportunity to ‘interrupt’ them once they arrive at the centre, with ‘while I’m here’ type reminders. More about how to attract that impulse sale a little later.

Read More >

Capturing the Impulse Opportunity in Convenience

Topics: Channel / Retail, Convenience

We all know how tempting confectionery can be…so how do you turn temptation into sales? ShopAbility discuss, for Convenience World Magazine.

What is the role of display in driving impulse purchases? What makes a customer grab a Kit Kat or pick up a Picnic? And how does this vary according to the type of store you have?

Whether it is a quick trip for milk, refueling the car or picking up a quick drink on the run, every customer who enters your store has one thing in common…a desire to make a purchase. It is your job to ensure when they leave the store that you have exhausted every opportunity to capture every possible sale, rather than just transact the one thing they came in to buy.

Read More >

If you’re a Discount Pharmacy, how should you leverage shopper behaviour in your store?

Topics: Channel / Retail, Pharmacy, Point of Purchase

Discount pharmacies are unlike any other pharmacy type. ShopAbility discuss, in the final in a series of five articles about how different types of pharmacies can be optimized. For Retail Pharmacy Magazine.

So far in this series we have covered four different types of pharmacies:

  1. Shopping Centre Pharmacies – those located in major centres such as Westfield, Stockland, Centro
  2. Community Pharmacies – smaller local pharmacies located in strips and small village shopping centres
  3. Inner City Pharmacies – small stores in transit locations in the inner city
  4. One Stop Shop Pharmacies – large footprint stores in suburban areas that are not Discounters per se.

Our fifth and final discussion is about Discount Pharmacies – that is, pharmacies that promote range breadth and particularly price as their primary draw card above all other factors. Chains such as Chemist Warehouse and Priceline fall in to this category.

Read More >